2011-10-13
Medicinos bankas instructed to remove deficiencies in its operation
The Board of the Bank of Lithuania discussed the results of the target inspection of Medicinos bankas conducted by the Credit Institutions Supervision Department. The inspection focused on management, internal control, and the management of credit and liquidity risks in this Bank.
The report on the inspection specified certain deficiencies in the operation of Medicinos bankas. Having taken them into account, the Board of the Bank of Lithuania gave appropriate instructions.
Medicinos bankas was instructed to eliminate the deficiencies in its operation established during the inspection and supervisory review and evaluation by 1 March 2012.
The head of administration of Medicinos bankas was instructed to arrive at the Bank of Lithuania no later than within 10 days of the receipt of this resolution to explain how the Bank was going to remove the established deficiencies in its operation and, on the deadline for this, to explain how this was done.
Another payment institution licence to be issued
The Board of the Bank of Lithuania decided to issue a limited licence to act as a payment institution to UAB Ignalinos butų ūkis, which entitles to providing the payment service established in Article 5 (6) of the Republic of Lithuania Law on Payments: money remittances. By now 17 undertakings have been issued licences for the provision of payment services.
Banks to save through VISA payments in litas
On the amendment by the Bank of Lithuania of the Rules of Operation of the Payment System LITAS-RLS, domestic credit institutions will avoid the cost of currency exchange through payment for the operations involving VISA payment cards issued in Lithuania in national currency.
In 2010, the Bank of Lithuania was addressed by representatives of the VISA payment card scheme concerning a possibility to effect payments of its members – credit institutions – via their accounts with the Bank of Lithuania in national currency. With the implementation of the VISA initiative credit institutions participating in this model will avoid the cost of currency exchange.
For the Bank of Lithuania this will be a new type of relationship with a payment agent acting from another state and using the SWIFT network for the interface with the system. The amendments to the Rules of Operation of the Payment System LITAS-RLS establish the operational aspects characteristic of such a participant. The Rules of Operation of the Payment System LITAS-RLS have also been supplemented with the procedure for indemnity, which has been developed taking into account the application of such instrument in other real-time payment systems (e.g., TARGET2-LIETUVOS BANKAS). It provides favourable conditions for regulating the claims of participants of the system LITAS-RLS against the Bank of Lithuania extrajudicially, where, due to technical failures in the system, payment instructions submitted by the participants were not settled during the business day of the system.
Participation in the Real-time Gross Settlement System LITAS-RLS includes the Bank of Lithuania, domestic commercial banks, foreign bank branches and the Lithuanian Central Credit Union. These systems are also available to financial brokerage companies and the AB Central Securities Depository of Lithuania.